Hausmaler

In European pottery of the 17th to 19th centuries this was at certain times and places a significant part of production, and the decoration could be of very high quality.

Hausmalerei began with freelance glass enamelers in Bohemia but developed in Germany on white tin-glazed earthenware in the 17th century, when glazed and fired but unpainted wares "in the white" were purchased on speculation by unsupervised freelance ateliers of china painters, who decorated them in overglaze enamel colours and gilding, which were fixed by a further light firing in their own small kilns.

The largest concentration of artists was in Londo, and many wares were sent there to be decorated, and them passed to the showrooms that were also in London, long after porcelain ceased to be made in the capital.

In England, America and elsewhere, china painting became a popular hobby or semi-professional pastime in the mid-19th century, normally for ladies, and many factories sold blanks.

[4] After the disturbances of the Russian Revolution many pre-revolutionary blanks of the Imperial Porcelain Factory, Saint Petersburg were painted by artists as long as ten years later, in bold new Constructivist styles; such pieces are now highly sought-after.